Lawyers debated a cherished tradition of the oldest law society in the Commonwealth at storied Osgoode Hall.

Tradition prevailed at the site of one of Toronto’s most historic landmarks as members of the Law Society of Upper Canada shot down the motion of a few rogue lawyers to change its 215-year-old name.

The raucous debate in the storied Osgoode Hall — with the ornate portraits of past treasurers (that’s society speak for presidents) looking down upon the speakers in Convocation Hall — came down to a clash between upholding tradition and providing clarity.

Federal lawyer Tom Vincent, who proposed the motion to change the name to the Ontario Law Society, arrived at the microphone Wednesday evening with a simple question: “Where do they tell people when they ask, ‘Where is Upper Canada’?”

He put that question to a crowd of more than 50 at the annual general meeting of the society — which represents 43,000 lawyers and more than 2,000 paralegals and acts as the regulatory body for both.

Some might have called it a rebellion.

Though it was tamer than the fired-up crowd that gathered at Montgomery’s Tavern on Yonge St. in the days before Confederation, the proposal to reform a name that hasn’t changed with the times was crushed just as readily.

The society was created in 1797, not long after the founding of the York settlement. It remains unclear, even in the society’s own history, why the name stuck after the province of Ontario was created in 1867.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Vincent unfurled a large map of Ontario with a purposeful flourish. He said a map store had been out of stock of anything depicting Upper Canada, but, undeterred, had outlined the historical boundaries in black marker.

“It doesn’t reflect who we are or where we are,” Vincent said of the name — citing public confusion in locating the society or understanding its mandate, and negative sentiments conjured about colonial history and “privileged white males.”

But few sitting beneath the hall’s ornate chandeliers were onboard with the proposed change.

“I am here to speak for traditions,” said Vern Krishna, former treasurer of the society, sporting a well-trimmed, snow-white handlebar moustache and round spectacles.

Krishna pointed out that the law society is the oldest in the Commonwealth, outdating even Britain’s.

“We have every reason to be proud of our organization,” Krishna said. “There is no confusion in the public mind.”

To much applause, Toronto lawyer Daniel Paul Sommers put the dissent most simply: “Changing our name will not help us do our job better.”

Thornhill lawyer Alan Silverstein pointed out that several other organizations have yet to release their grip on the historical name: Upper Canada College, Upper Canada Brewing Company and even the Jesuit Fathers of Upper Canada.

“And it never hurts to have God on your side,” he said, to the loudest laughter of the evening.

The debate had been percolating through social media for several weeks before the meeting, some commenters drawing attention to the unfortunate pronunciation of the society’s acronym “LSUC.”

Suggestions for new names included the amusing “League of Extraordinary Ontario Lawyers and Paralegals.”

But Toronto lawyer Omar Ha-Redeye, one of the few who stood in favour of the motion, said there was a disconnect between the lawyers in the room and the vulnerable people who need the law society’s oversight most.

“We’re a self-regulated profession and the law society is there to protect the public when lawyers aren’t doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” he said. By having a name that doesn’t clearly embody Ontario or the services provided, Ha-Redeye said, “the law society is not fully meeting its mandate.”

In the end, after hearing rough estimates that a name change could cost the society as much as $1.5 million, an overwhelming majority voted to defeat the motion.

A rebellion, short-lived, means the name will stand — at least for maybe another century more.

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